








































Special Collections


19

Special Collections 
Kristy Sorensen, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Convener

MEMBERS PRESENT

• Kristy Sorensen, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
• Mitzi Budde, Virginia Theological Seminary
• David Buresh, Virginia Theological Seminary
• W. Field, William Booth College, Salvation Army, London
• Ellen Frost, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist 

University
• Dustin Kelley, George Fox University
• Liz Leahy, Azusa Pacific Seminary 
• Erica Pye, Abilene Christian University
• Derek Rieckens, Catholic Theological Union
• Brian Shetler, Princeton Theological Seminary
• Lolana Thompson, Dallas Theological Seminary

AGENDA

Meeting agenda and summary of discussion.

1. Introductions

2. Reflections on Atla in Fort Worth (or virtual Atla)

a. Folks who attended in person missed having the reposi-
tory tours that were part of past meetings. Liz Leahy 
is on the planning committee for Atla Annual in Long 
Beach next year and may see if our group could spon-
sor a tour for any Atla member to attend. In the past, she 
organized a tour of the Huntington Library that was very 
interesting.

b. Several sessions were mentioned, and members were 
encouraged to check out the recordings, which should 
be available in mid-to-late July, including the session 
on primary source instruction using rare books and the 
discussion of Atla Digitization grants.

3. Round Robin reports (see below)



20    ANNUAL Y E ARBOOK

4. Ideas for this coming year

a. Rejuvenate the discussion list (scig-l@atlanow.com). 
Alexis Weiss collected emails from the people on the call 
to add to the list. Additional people who would like to be 
added to the list can email connect@atla.com with their 
request. Kristy will be set up as the moderator for the list. 
Use the list to share professional development opportu-
nities, news of interest, and as a place to ask questions 
and start conversations.

b. Jérémie LeBlanc (the Atla board president) has been 
involved in the Special Collections Interest group in the 
past and would be supportive of us hosting a webinar or 
other activity relating to our group. 

5. Adjourn

YEAR IN REVIEW

Highlights and/or summary of your group’s activities over the past 
year.

• No specific activities this past year.

ROUND ROBIN REPORTS

Abilene Christian University –This past year the library hosted 
the Christian College Librarians (CCL) conference and is working 
on a large project to transfer audio recordings from a substantial 
donation into their institutional repository. In addition, the Way-
nai Bible has recently come back to Abilene Christian after being 
on a traveling exhibit, and it is bringing a lot of people down into 
the archives.

Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary – Among other proj-
ects, the Austin Seminary Archives partnered with the Presbyte-
rian Historical Society to have material from the Texas Migrant 
Ministry collection and session minutes from the Texas-Mexican 
Presbytery records digitized, making this content more widely 
available to researchers. 

Azusa Pacific Seminary – Work continues on the 16 pallets of mate-
rial that comprise the Henrietta Mears collection, including assist-
ing two different film crews who have been on campus working on 

mailto:scig-l@atlanow.com
mailto:connect@atla.com
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:293981#page/1/mode/1up
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/object/islandora:293981#page/1/mode/1up
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/search/%2223-0445%22?type=dismax
https://digital.history.pcusa.org/islandora/search/%2223-0445%22?type=dismax


Interest Group Reports    21

films of Mears’s life. Another librarian has been taking classes in 
archives and will be able to start helping with digitization soon. In 
addition, the staff is getting started in contributing to JSTOR Open 
Community Collections.

Catholic Theological Union – Over the past year, the archivist has 
worked to convert binders of paper inventories and collection 
records into a newly deployed ArchivesSpace instance. The CTU 
library is also beginning a remodeling project to accommodate of-
fices for McCormick and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chi-
cago. The archives is gaining much-needed square footage as part 
of the project, some of which is being filled with rare books being 
moved out of the open stacks and material that other faculty and 
staff have dug up as they move their own offices.

George Fox University – The archives is really starting to open 
back up post-pandemic and after a staffing transition. The new 
archivist is currently working on reviewing inventory documents 
and identifying high-priority collections for more intensive pro-
cessing. Recently they were able to work with a Native tribe in 
Alaska to identify tribal materials in their collection that had been 
donated by missionaries; they have now respectfully returned the 
materials to the tribe. They look forward to working with addition-
al tribal representatives in the future as they continue to review 
their collections. 

Perkins School of Theology – Perkins hosted a three-day exhibit in 
April of the Codex Sassoon, the earliest and most complete Hebrew 
Bible, before it went up for auction. The exhibit, which included Bi-
ble treasures from the Bridwell Library alongside the codex, drew 
many visitors. In addition, the Bridwell Library was chosen as the 
home for the collections of the recently closed World Methodist 
Museum, and they are working to digitize material from that col-
lection. In addition to manuscript material, the collection includes 
many portraits and objects (like John Wesley figurines!). They are 
looking into creating exhibit space to house a rotating display of 
that material.

Princeton Theological Seminary – Like George Fox University, 
Princeton Theological Seminary has also been working with a 
group to return tribal materials to Alaska, a project Brian was 
able to present at the recent World Christianity Conference. The 
archives is hard at work increasing their digitization projects and 
contributing material to the Seminary’s Theological Commons site, 
thanks to a new scanner. Speaking of new equipment, in July they 



2 2    ANNUAL Y E ARBOOK

welcomed some new exhibit cases to the archives with dimmable 
lighting! They are also working to re-inventory their cuneiform col-
lection and produce higher-quality photographs of the items. Re-
cently they also started working to pull lists of all their 17th century 
books as part of an update to the Universal Short Title Catalogue. 
Finally, the archivist is looking forward to presenting at the up-
coming Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) conference on 
a panel discussing provenance and archival documentation, and 
he will also have a chapter on special collections in an upcoming 
Atla publication on theological librarianship during the pandemic.

Virginia Theological Seminary – The Seminary recently hired a 
cataloger and rare book curator, their first time having a librar-
ian with a specialty in rare books. They are now affiliated with the 
General Theological Seminary in New York City, which has a much 
larger rare books collection, as well as an institutional archival col-
lection. They are working to inventory the collection and develop a 
plan for the care and access of the rare books and archives collec-
tions for both schools. 

William Booth College, Salvation Army (London) – The staff cre-
ated unique programming for Women’s History Month featuring 
female Salvation Army officers based out of Egypt. The program-
ming included an archival display and tied it into a worship ser-
vice. They are also celebrating the success of a co-worker who 
moved on to a new position in a larger institution. 


